Altantuya Murder Case 24/07/07

Witness Says Police Did Not Enter Room Before Sirul

SHAH ALAM, July 24 (Bernama) -- A police officer who took Cpl Sirul Azhar Umar to his house for investigation in the Altantuya Shaariibu murder today denied that Sirul Azhar was left in the hall for 15 minutes before being taken into a bedroom where the Mongolian's belongings were found.
Chief Insp Koh Fei Chew, 38, of the Kuala Lumpur Police Serious Crime Division also denied that during those 15 minutes he and his men were in the room behind closed doors without Siru Azhar, the second accused.
He also did not instruct Sirul Azhar to hold a black jacket from a cupboard in the bedroom for a photographer to take a snapshot not did he ask Sirul Azhar to point to items placed on the jacket for the photo to bde taken.
He made the denial under cross-examination by Sirul Azhar's counsel, Kamarul Hisham Kamarudin, in the High Court.
In his testimony last Thursday Koh said jewellery and a watch belonging to Altantuya were found in an inner pocket of a black jacket kept in a cupbourad in the two-room flat occupied by Sirul Azhar.
Koh, the prosecution's 20th witness, was testifying at the trial of Sirul Azhar, 36, and Chief Insp Azilah Hadri, both of the Bukit Aman Special Action Force, charged with murdering Altantuya, 28, at a location between lots 12843 and 16735, Mukim Bukit Raja, between 10pm on Oct 19 and 1am on Oct 20 last year.
Political analyst Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda, 47, is charged with abetting them in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur between 9.54am on Oct 18 and 9.45pm on Oct 19 last year.
Koh said all the photos taken at the house including the ones on Sirul Azilah holding the jacket and pointing to Altantuya's jewellery were taken on the instruction of ASP Zulkarnain Samsudin.
He said Sirul Azhar led him and several policemen to his flat in Jalan Camar, 4/1 Gugusan Semarak, Section 4, Kota Damansara, Selangor, on Nov 7 last year after making a confession during an interrogation.
Questioned on the contradictions between the investigation notes and the police report on the discovery of the crime scene which was made on Nov 6 last year when Koh and his team took Azilah to the scene, Koh said the investigation notes he made at the scene contained Azilah's words in indirect speech.
He said he was a meticulous person and the notes regarding time which he made throughout the investigation were accurate, including the time Azilah revealed the information at 5.23pm, the meeting at the scene at 6.50pm and handing over of Sirul Azhar to the investigating officer at 4.05pm on Nov 6 last year.
Under re-examination by deputy public prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah, Koh said his testimony yesterday that Azilah might not have known the scene of the crime meant that Azilah did not know the exact location.
Tun Abdul Majid: That's why you lost the way several times?
Koh: Yes.
Asked why he recorded Azilah's words in indirect speech and not verbatim, he said that to him, the recordings in indirect speech were sufficient.